Romans 14:4 – Household Rule
Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
Truth to Learn
Chastening fellow Christians is God’s responsibility, not ours.
Behind the Words
“Servant” is translated from the Greek word oiketēs, which is derived from oikeō, meaning “to reside or to dwell.” Oiketēs refers to someone who resides, that is, a fellow resident. It is the word that was used to describe a household servant, typically one who was paid for their labors.
The word “master” is from the Greek word kurios, which means “one who is supreme in authority” or “one’s owner.”
“Able” is from the noun dunatos (the word from which we get our English word dynamite). It refers to “power, authority, or ability.”
Meaning Explained
This is one of those verses that none of us wants to have explained to us because we are all guilty of what Paul is correcting here. For centuries the Jews had been the keepers of God’s revelation to man (see Romans 3:1, 2); therefore they felt like it was their duty to enlighten others regarding how they were violating God’s laws. According to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, however, within the body of Christ the Law has been abolished and Jews and Gentiles are one and the same.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. (Ephesians 2:14-16)
Regardless of our backgrounds, all Christians are of the household of our Master and we are all his servants. We have no right to judge how obedient another servant is to our Master. That is a matter which is strictly up to our Master. When we confess that Jesus is our Lord, we are saying that we accept the fact that He is our owner and the supreme authority over us, and as our supreme authority we are committed to obeying Him in whatever He asks of us.
Now, there certainly are some things that we are supposed to judge about others. We are to judge whether or not a person is genuinely saved before admitting him or her into our fellowship and we are to judge them, and lovingly confront them, if they are blatantly living in sin. As to less weighty matters of obedience to our Lord and Master, it is up to God to judge, admonish, and chasten His servant-children, not us.
Application
As a result of what we have learned in this verse, I have a two-part question for you. Are you judgmental regarding your brothers and sisters in Christ, and are you submitted to your Lord and committed to obeying Him completely regardless of how other members of the household are behaving? If the answer to the first part is “Yes,” then the answer to the second part is most definitely “No.” If we are totally submitted to our Master, then we will be loving toward our brothers and sisters, not judgmental. That’s what our Master wants from us!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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